A pair of highly-touted UFC strawweights will collide in June.
As first reported by Marcelo Barone of Combate, Japan’s Kanako Murata will fight No. 13 ranked strawweight Virna Jandiroba at a yet-to-be-announced June 19 UFC event. Jandiroba later confirmed the news on social media.
Brazil’s Jandiroba (16-2) suffered her second UFC loss and had her two-fight win streak snapped at UFC 256. She lost to Mackenzie Dern via unanimous decision, in what could have easily been Fight of the Night if not for the main event later that night. Before her loss to Dern, Jandiroba went on a two-fight submission streak. She finished Felice Herring in under two minutes at UFC 252 and in 2019 she submitted Mallory Martin.
The Brazilian will try and hold on to her No. 13 ranking as Murata (12-1) tries to take it.
Murata had a fantastic UFC debut as she dominated Randa Markos in November at UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos to win a unanimous decision. The Japanese fighter is the most recent Invicta FC strawweight champion; she vacated the title in September of 2020 when she was signed to the UFC. Murata is currently riding an eight-fight win streak, dating back to 2016.
The only other fight set for June 19 so far is Matt Brown vs. Dhiego Lima. There is no location or venue reported for the card as of yet.